We recently connected with Anna Marie and have shared our conversation below.

Anna, appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

One day out of the blue I got a call from a friend, who had just become sick. She was not able to carry out a mural she had been hired to do for a client, so she asked me if I could take on the job. it was my first opportunity to paint a large scale mural, 25’ x 10’, and I learned there would be scaffolding involved.

I also learned a few weeks prior that I was pregnant, and I almost passed up on the job out of fear something would happen to me or the baby.

I decided to hire help, when I would have taken the job on alone, and I can tell you it turned out to be an exciting, challenging, sweaty, and physically demanding time! However having the help really paid off. And I was able to take breaks when I needed to and cool off from the August summer heat.

Now when my baby is grown, I can take her to that spot and say, “Look! You helped me paint that! You were in my belly!”

The mural turned out great, no projectors and just a grid to go by. I’m proud of the work my helper and I did, I got to assist another friend of mine by painting her design, and made the client happy with the result!

Since then I’ve gotten other opportunities to grow in my mural painting business, and design for them too!

Anna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I first got an inkling for large scale painting when I was a painting major at the school I was attending. I had the desire to go larger and make a greater impact after school, so I had to go out into the world myself and find the opportunity to nail my first client. My first year as a freelancer I found a local free bookstore (yes, all the books are free) and offered the labor and design pro bono, if they just provided the supplies. They agreed, I got a lot of content for my website, and was able to use that experience to land my next job that was paid, and it was the most I was ever paid from a job. I felt so accomplished especially when I am doing the work that makes my soul happy. I’m blessed with this gift I have the yearning to share with a lot of people and make an impact, and doing it large scale is the way I am called to do it.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Aside from painting Murals, I assist my husband with running an odd jobs business, Wurk Services, where we connect customers with the person to get the job done, from dog walking to plumbing. From this business I was able to take on the interior and exterior painting jobs. Eventually I decided to subcontract the work out and focus more on creative endeavors, like my art and music. I get bookings for music shows where I play banjo, guitar, and singing folk, country, and rock songs. I write too and perform original music when I can!

Face painting gigs have also become a fun hobby of mine, where I can be creative and make kids happy too!

Over the course of us living in Chicago, three years, we have been collecting and selling vintage items and collectibles at markets and other events under the name “Boho Barbie Ken” after one of our friends called us the name. It started out as just a fun thing! Just this year we opened up a vintage and thrift store in Rogers Park near the beach. I have some space there to work on larger art projects if needed.

So yeah, I have a lot of different streams of income. A couple of eggs here, a couple there. The most important advice I ever went against was from family telling me that I was doing too much growing up. If you have a lot of passions, do what makes you happy and make some businesses out of them too! There is no harm in trying and the risks are always worth taking.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn getting upset with critiques from others. It’s important to always be on the same page with clients, and if they have a problem with something, you have to solve it.

It’s good to be a problem solver, and shift the mindset from focusing on the problem at hand to creating solutions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.Annamarie.studio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artmaskaa
• Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/bohobarbieken